Familienpolitik

In April I blogged about Spanish president Zapatero’s appointment of the visibly pregnant Carme Chacón as his new defense minister. Now she has given birth to a boy. Speculation continues over whether Chacón will take advantage of the full four months maternity leave afforded her, or split the time with her husband, something [...]

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In this blog post at Slate.com’s Human Nature, William Saletan questions the sense in prohibiting incest with a surprising argument. Women who delay motherhood significantly increase the risk their children will be born with Down syndrome, so much so, that by the time women are having children in their forties the risk is significantly [...]

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Today is the United Nations International Day of Families. The theme for this year is “Fathers and Families: Responsibilities and Challenges.” Secretary General Ban Ki Moon wrote in a message in honor of the day
Traditionally in many societies, fathers have been moral teachers, disciplinarians and breadwinners. In many countries, there is now [...]

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France prides itself on its progressive, enlightened politics, but now finds itself a bit behind the curve as several of its European neighbors have legalized gay marriage. Today Time magazine reports on a French man who lost his French citizenship after marrying a man in the Netherlands, where gay marriage is legal. A [...]

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This Spiegel Online article reports that Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s controversial policies of paying parents up to $2,810 for up to 12 months, increasing support for paternity leave and implementing a plan to triple the number of daycare places have worked: The fertility rate was 1.45 children per woman, up from 1.33 in [...]

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